U.K. Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Sue Gray, Resigns

Ms. Gray said intense media scrutiny of her role meant she “risked becoming a distraction” to the new Labour government.

Sue Gray, the chief of staff to Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, resigned abruptly on Sunday after weeks of speculation about turf wars in Downing Street, a media storm over her pay and questions over responsibility for a series of political errors.

Ms. Gray, a career civil servant with decades of experience at the heart of government, said in a statement that it had “become clear to me that intense commentary around my position risked becoming a distraction to the government’s vital work of change.”

Mr. Starmer thanked Ms. Gray in a statement for “all the support she has given me, both in opposition and government, and her work to prepare us for government and get us started on our program of change.”

Ms. Gray has been appointed as the prime minister’s envoy for regions and nations, while the role of chief of staff will be taken by Morgan McSweeney, who masterminded the successful election campaign this summer for the Labour Party, and had served as Mr. Starmer’s chief adviser.

The changes bring to an end a turbulent period of several months in which the presence of both Ms. Gray and Mr. McSweeney in Downing Street created two centers of power, prompting rumors of a fierce rivalry between them, although both denied any hostility.

Ms. Gray’s departure also heralded a wider shake-up. The political director at Downing Street, Vidhya Alakeson, and the director of government relations, Jill Cuthbertson, have been promoted to deputy chiefs of staff. James Lyons, a former journalist who worked in communications for the National Health Service, and more recently at TikTok, will head a new strategic communications team.

Ms. Gray’s role had been contentious from the moment it emerged that Mr. Starmer had approached her, in March 2023, while he was leader of the opposition.

As a senior civil servant, she had led the “Partygate” inquiry in 2022, investigating the breaking of Covid lockdown rules in Downing Street under the prime minister at the time, Boris Johnson. Her report concluded that there had been “failures of leadership and judgment in No. 10 and the Cabinet Office” for which “the senior leadership at the center, both political and official, must bear responsibility.” Mr. Johnson lost his job later that year.

Ms. Gray’s salary became an issue last month after her earnings were leaked to the BBC. At £170,000 a year, her pay was higher than that of her Conservative predecessors and of Mr. Starmer, but lower than dozens of other top civil servants.

The intense media scrutiny proved awkward for Ms. Gray, who was used to occupying a more backroom role.

To make matters worse, the first three months of the Labour government have been marked by a series of setbacks for Mr. Starmer, with critics arguing that the government has lacked a coherent political strategy.

Its decision to curb the subsidies offered to all retirees to help with winter heating costs provoked a fierce public backlash.

Mr. Starmer himself came in for acute criticism after it emerged that he accepted gifts, including clothes and eyeglasses, from a Labour Party donor, as well as tickets to attend a Taylor Swift concert and soccer games.

Last week Downing Street announced that he had paid back more than £6,000 for gifts and hospitality he received after he became prime minister.

Mr. Starmer’s decision to shake up his team after just a few months in power is likely to underscore his reputation for ruthlessness. As opposition leader, Mr. Starmer purged his hard-left predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, from Labour, as he moved the party to the political center ground.

Mr. Starmer’s allies hope that the reorganization produces a more coherent internal structure, boosts the government’s communication strategy and allows it to avoid the pitfalls it has encountered so far.

But the fact that the changes were thought necessary reflects the extent to which Mr. Starmer’s popularity has fallen since the general election in July. One recent opinion poll showed that, while 24 percent of voters approve of the job Mr. Starmer is doing, 50 percent disapprove, giving him a worse rating than the previous prime minister, Rishi Sunak.

In a statement, the opposition Conservative Party said that “in fewer than 100 days, Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government has been thrown into chaos — he has lost his chief of staff who has been at the center of the scandal the Labour Party has been engulfed by.”

Ms. Gray said in her statement that “after leading the Labour Party’s preparation for government and kick-starting work on our program for change I am looking forward to drawing on my experience to support the prime minister and the cabinet.”

That experience was gained during a long career, most of which was spent in the government service although at one point she took a break to run a pub in Northern Ireland with her husband, Bill Conlon, a country singer. While a civil servant she rose to become director general of propriety and ethics in the Cabinet Office, and established a reputation as a formidable power broker.

Writing in his memoirs, one former minister, David Laws, recalled being told by Oliver Letwin, a fellow minister, that it had taken him two years to realize who really ran Britain. According to this account, Mr. Letwin concluded that it was “a lady called Sue Gray,” adding that “unless she agrees, things just don’t happen.”